Man Left Beaten, Naked in a Ditch After Argument With Roommate

The two men started as friends, but one is now in the hospital and the other is in jail.

By Danielle Genet

The two men started as friends, but one is now in the hospital and the other is in jail.

“I feel like I’m dying,” David Franey Jr., 47, told ABC News. “On a scale of one to 10, I feel about a 12.”

On Dec. 5, officers in La Marque, Texas, found Franey severely beaten, tied up and left unclothed in a ditch, according to La Marque Police Department.

Franey was taken to University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

A construction worker, Franey is on the mend, but said he was still in severe pain. “My leg is broken twice below the knee and twice above the knee. I have a fractured spine and both my rotator cuffs are broke,” he told ABC News.

Franey said he got into an argument with his roommate and co-worker, James Aron Lee, Jr., 31, over a dog and a woman.

Franey and Lee had been living together for three months in Hitchcock, Texas, and split the bills evenly in order to save money. Franey said the attack was unexpected and that he was in complete shock that Lee lashed out on him.

“Knocked me out, tied me up, tried to hang me once or twice. Then he took me out to the woods,” Franey told ABC News affiliate KTRK.

He told KTRK, “That’s a fight for human life, man. You want to get up and go. Then he caught me and he tied me to a tree. I lay there about six or seven hours, I guess, and I could hear the traffic.”

Lee was arrested on Dec. 6 for felony warrants in Hitchcock, Texas. Lee was charged with aggravated assault and unlawful restraint.

ABC News spoke with Lee’s attorney, Stacey Valdez, who said she was recently appointed to the case and therefore, not available to comment at this time. She said she will have a statement tomorrow after meeting with Lee later today.

Bond amount was set at $250,000.00 for each charge. Lee remains in custody with the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office.

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